Rob's Diary

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bensanon said:
I think I may schedule a visit with a dietician some time.
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That probably is a good idea, professional advice is usually helpful. I like the piece on how to curb sugar cravings, it makes a lot of sense.

Have you ever tried writing down what you eat everyday? I know you may have, and you seem to keep a pretty reasonable calorie total, so maybe you are. When I started doing writing mine down I had a bit of a come to Jesus moment, I looked at it and though is that really what I'm eating.

Take care of those nerves and joints, you're going to need them for a while longer.
 
Sleep is so important - I think you're about the third diary I've read today where bad sleep patterns were having a negative effect on health/mood/weight management/things generally. Let alone I had a rotten night myself last night - not sure why.
Here's to us both (and the others I was reading too!) getting ourselves into the pattern of a good, restful, restorative night's sleep.
 
alligatorob said:
That probably is a good idea, professional advice is usually helpful. I like the piece on how to curb sugar cravings, it makes a lot of sense.

Have you ever tried writing down what you eat everyday? I know you may have, and you seem to keep a pretty reasonable calorie total, so maybe you are. When I started doing writing mine down I had a bit of a come to Jesus moment, I looked at it and though is that really what I'm eating.

Take care of those nerves and joints, you're going to need them for a while longer.
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Hmm, thanks Rob. I'm sure you've seen my food logging here before. I don't think it has to do with a misunderstanding of what I'm eating. Wrt a nutritionist, I'm hoping they'll give me some insight into how they would advise someone like me with an extreme binge eating problem.

Thanks, Amy! I did get a little more last night. Almost 7 hours. Now if I could figure out how to keep that going...
 
bensanon said:
Hmm, thanks Rob. I'm sure you've seen my food logging here before
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I have seen your food logging and kind of acknowledged that in my question, guess I was just pinging you to see how well you understood what you were eating at the moment. Sounds like you know quite well.

It will be interesting to find out what a nutritionist has to say about bingeing, let us know. Hopefully its something helpful.
 
Well, Amy, I did not do so well with sleep. I got a whopping 1.75 hours last night. I am in a very stressful situation at the moment and that is why I didn't sleep very well, I believe. I am headed to bed early tonight though.

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I tried to run today but my other knee is hurting me and I didn't want to push it. I think there might be a sprain or maybe or a hairline fracture or something. I'm pretty sure it's because I started back up running too far. That 2 hour run about a week ago is likely the culprit run. It is not the same at all compared to my other knee and as long as I'm careful about this, I think I can heal pretty quickly and get back up in mileage pretty soon. I cycled and did the cross-trainer instead of running today.

Food is going really well and I've started reducing my calories just a little. It feels good actually and I think I'm in a small deficit the past couple of days.
 
I'm sorry you are in a stressful situation at the moment, Rob. You are doing well reducing your calories under stress. I hope you get a good night's sleep!
 
Thanks Cate and Amy!

Feeling OK tonight. Did much better with sleep.. 6.75 hours. I felt kind of out of it this morning though almost like I got too much sleep. Probably a mix of the stress too. I ordered some blue light glasses. I'm hopeful those will make a difference but I'm skeptical.

Got a run in today, 5 miles. My other knee has improved but started hurting again towards the end of the run.

Food is still going well. I don't feel the need to stuff myself so much. I think what it came down to in January is a substitution of fruit (frozen mango and berries) for the refined sugars I was bingeing on. That sort of allowed me to wean myself off the refined sugars a little bit and now I'm kind of working my way down in total calories. I'll check in with the numbers on Saturday. That seems to be how it's working and oh yeah, the running really makes a difference too with my appetite and not wanting to stuff myself. I weighed about 200 pounds this morning. I'm still in a heightened state of stress but seem to be holding with exercise and diet. Onward!!

Oh yeah.. and my dog is fantastic!! She's so sweet.
 
I've kept my calorie intake lower despite the stress and lack of sleep. I used the elliptical yesterday because my right knee was hurting too much for a run. I had a busy day full of meetings with lots of sitting on hard chairs and now my lower back is hurting. I'm afraid I'm headed for a situation of chronic injury and just hobbling along. Perhaps I can feel the pain more because of the stress and lack of sleep, I don't know. The biggest problem is that I'm not sure what to do. I read and hear about people who are constantly battling these types of injuries and it seems the services I've sought are not enough - either to help me or help me help myself, I just don't understand. I don't want to continue to take an NSAID indefinitely. If I'm going to be uncomfortable anyway and it's still tolerable, it seems it's better to avoid medication. So, what do I do? I will have to educate myself more and talk with more people who've been through this and have learned how to keep injury away at my age and with similar activity. That's all I know to do right now. It takes a lot of time and effort that I don't think I have.
 
Rob, have you had a decent massage recently? It may help with your stress. I know this is not just a muscular thing, but a strong massage by someone who really knows their stuff can be a wonderful thing.
 
Things continue to go well with my diet. I was not eating a whole lot of calories last week considering the exercise I was doing and the stress I was under. It caught up with me Friday and yesterday and I rested both days. Yesterday I overate. I didn't binge on refined sugars or unhealthy fat but throughout the day total, it was an overcompensation. I ate 24384 calories for the week and the exercise calories I tracked were 7628 for a final total of 16756 or about 2393 calories per day.

Things are feeling a lot more under control now. Replacing the refined sugars with fruit in the new year has been the key I believe. I can sense changes in my appetite and I don't feel the need to binge or even overeat as much. When I overeat, I can feel the consequences and that negative feedback has more of an impact than it did before. I don't automatically think, "Oh, I'll just run it off." Rather, I think, "I'll pay for that and not feel very good about myself so let's not do that," and "you'll be fine without."

I'm concerned about my knees, both now. The left knee/sciatic pain seems manageable and the cream helps. The right one feels OK. I'm realizing I may need to switch to the bike or elliptical for a few days for it to fully heal so I can get back to running. Swimming might be better actually. I'll test it out again today probably.
 
Hey Rob, always interesting to read your diary. Good that you didn't binge on junk food, and for a guy at your age 2,400 calories a day net doesn't seem bad. I kind of like your idea of counting calories on a weekly basis, helps settle some of the ups and downs.

Good luck with the swimming, I love to swim but have no pool nearby.
 
alligatorob said:
Hey Rob, always interesting to read your diary. Good that you didn't binge on junk food, and for a guy at your age 2,400 calories a day net doesn't seem bad. I kind of like your idea of counting calories on a weekly basis, helps settle some of the ups and downs.

Good luck with the swimming, I love to swim but have no pool nearby.
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Thanks for your support, Rob. I had a feeling you might chime in on the numbers. :) I may actually stop posting those altogether and do more of a qualitative update as what's important to me right now is stopping the bingeing and the emphasis on numbers detracts from that goal and has led to unhealthy behavior in the past.
 
Well, I tried to run again yesterday and my right knee started hurting me after about 3 miles. I feel hopeless that this has happened after dealing with the left knee problem. I think it might be an LCL pull or small tear or something in that area. After I couldn’t run, I walked on the incline for about 4 miles. It feels OK to walk and going back to that default may be fine. I think cycling and of course, swimming are also good options.

The left knee has gotten better and I have cream I use that helps. It’s not stopping me like it was before and that pain is now more so in my lower back and it sometimes flares down into my leg. I’m a mess now with these injuries!

The first injury, I took really hard because I was still losing weight and I was relying on the running so much. I did cross-training but really reluctantly and without much consistency. This time I’ll do whatever it takes. I don’t feel as panicked because I‘m in a different place with my weight and the bingeing. I see a path to more progress on my weight, the bingeing, and the exercise.

I was aware of the general advice not to overdo it when I get back to running and I did anyway. BUT, that general advice is vague, it‘s not helpful and has even prevented me from doing stuff which was fine to do. In this case, I thought since I was still in shape mostly, I would be OK. I don’t really understand where my limits are though and that’s the real problem. The vague warnings are not at all helpful. I need to know what my limits are for me. I need to know EXACTLY what it means not to overdo it. So this is a process and I don’t think I’ve done any permanent damage so I’ll figure this stuff out and overcome it for me. I’m going to stick with it until I figure it out and get better. At the level I want to run, it’s bound to happen. I’m going to figure it out like I have with the bingeing.
 
No advice from me, because I'm totally unqualified to comment on injuries or knees or anything related. But best wishes, and I'm glad the walking is okay.
 
Thanks, Amy! I wish I knew more about how to do this - get and maintain a high level of running - better but true to form, I tend to make most of the mistakes one can. I usually don't do any permanent damage and get help when I'm in real trouble but at my age, seems like I would've figured out how to make improvements a little more gracefully.

This diet plan is really sticking. I have had no major cravings after about 2-3 weeks into it since January 1. I'll eat a lot of frozen mango sometimes but it's so much better than refined sugars and it cleans me out the next day. All that fiber has got to have additional benefits too. My weight was 199. It seems to be holding steady here. Hopefully I can maintain for awhile longer (months) and then eventually go down a little bit at a time. If it works out easily, it would be great to go back down right now but I'm not going to work toward that or push it in anyway until I have a lot more time without bingeing.
 
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